Natick students learning Mandarin, broadening world perspective

Ali Rabideau and her classmates watched intently as their teacher drew a series of characters on an overhead projector, their eyes darting between the calligraphy pens in their hands and the projector display. At times the students asked teacher Wenjuan Sheng to slow down so they could accurately capture the intricate details of Mandarin characters and write the sentence "I practice calligraphy."

Ali Rabideau and her classmates watched intently as their teacher drew a series of characters on an overhead projector, their eyes darting between the calligraphy pens in their hands and the projector display.

At times the students asked teacher Wenjuan Sheng to slow down so they could accurately capture the intricate details of Mandarin characters and write the sentence "I practice calligraphy."

"It’s a very different language," Rabideau said, adding she's enjoyed immersing herself in Mandarin and the Chinese culture through a new class at Natick High School.

The district began this school year offering Mandarin to some high school and middle school students under the guidance of two teachers who came to Natick from China. Several other local districts offer Mandarin classes including Hopkinton, Marlborough and Westborough, and Natick plans to expand the program next year with the goal of eventually offering several levels of Mandarin like it does for other foreign languages.

Yulan Zhu, who teaches Mandarin at Wilson and Kennedy middle schools and uses the American name Nancy, said Mandarin is spoken all over the world.

"All of the Chinese kids learn English from a very young age," she said. "When you come to China you find out most of the kids speak English but you cannot understand Chinese."

Students have only been studying Mandarin since the beginning of the school year, but have tackled topics such as numbers, greeting people, ordering food and bartering, which Sheng said is common in Chinese culture.

"There’s no connection between the character and the pronunciation," Sheng said of learning Mandarin. "You have to memorize the pronunciation and the shape of the character."

Sheng said she taught students ways to mimic some characters with their bodies and Zhu said she uses games to help them learn Mandarin.

In addition to learning the language, they also teach students about Chinese culture and students, in turn, teach them about life in the United States.

"I feel like we learn from each other," said Sheng, who is here for only this school year through the U.S. Department of State’s Teachers of Critical Languages program.

LeDuc said the district hopes to be part of the program again next year, but is committed to continuing Mandarin classes regardless.

Sheng said she plans to return to China and teach English. Zhu, who is here through an exchange program in which a Natick teacher is spending time in China, plans to stay for next school year.

Sheng said Chinese students prefer to study alone, while Natick students like to discuss what they are learning with each other and teachers.

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Otto Magee, a senior who hopes to continue taking Mandarin in college, said it is interesting to learn about a culture not often covered in other classes.

"We get a lot of European culture, but this is different," Magee said.

Brian Benson can be reached at 508-626-3964 or bbenson@wickedlocal.com.